Geniuses: The Unofficial Sequel
by takalotti
Summary: Slash. Continuation of "Geniuses" by Amaretto. Jason and Calvin meet in college and find in each other something they never found elsewhere.
1. Guessing

**AN**: All right. I have to give you two disclaimers. The first is your standard "I don't own Jason, Calvin, Hobbes, or any of their family/friends from their comics." The second is a bit more unconventional.

I don't even own the foundation of this story. That belongs to Amaretto who wrote a story called Geniuses which I just fell in love with. The pairing was perfect, the characterizations were spot on, and the concept was just so damn intriguing to me. My brain would not shut off, thinking about what would happen next for these two in this story.

It seems Geniuses was just a one shot as there have been no updates since 2005. And I tried to contact Amaretto to see if s/he would mind if I did a continuation, but I didn't get a response. So I decided to post this and just do my best to give Amaretto his/her due credit. I sincerely hope that this is taken as a tribute to his/her great story rather than as a rip off.

Not only do I highly recommend reading Geniuses for its own awesomeness, but it's the set up for this story so it'll make more sense if you do.

Here we go!

* * *

"You can pick out something to watch, if you want," Jason said as he set up the pizza and plates on the coffee table. He pointed to the cabinet under the TV.

Calvin sat down and opened the door, tilting his head to the side to read the titles. "You have some of the original Godzilla movies?" he said with surprise.

"Yeah…" Jason answered hesitantly.

"I love these! My mom would never let me watch them, much less own them, since I stomped around the house like a dinosaur enough as it was."

Jason's face relaxed into a relieved smile. "Go ahead and grab one."

The two boys cheered as the rubbery beasts fought on screen with wonderfully terrible special effects. Calvin tented the empty pizza box and trampled it while making horrible snarling faces. Jason joined in, extending his arms like a pterodactyl. They sparred with exaggerated slow motion hits until they collapsed on the couch in a fit of laughter.

Calvin ran a hand through his ruffled hair. "Man, I forgot how much fun that is."

"I get packages from my mom all the time. I can save the boxes and we can tear down a whole village sometime."

"Okay." He grinned at his new friend … boyfriend? … date? … Calvin's smile faltered, unsure of what Jason's earlier kiss meant now.

Jason looked at his watch. "I should turn in, though. Early classes."

"Yeah, me too."

Jason nodded, double checking he'd set out enough bedding. "Well, g'night," he said awkwardly on his way out of the room.

"G'night."

Calvin shook out the blanket and threw it over the couch. He tossed the pillow on one end, kicked off his shoes, and stripped down to his t-shirt and boxers. When he lay down, he pulled the half of the blanket that was draped on the back of the couch over him and laced his fingers behind his head.

He stared up at the ceiling thoughtfully for a few moments. Then he turned his head toward the recliner with a jerk. "Yeah?"

Calvin dropped his gaze from his old friend and shrugged. "Maybe. I mean, I liked it so I guess I am."

He rolled his eyes at Hobbes' response. "Because I don't really know. I don't know if I even _want_ to be gay. I have enough going against me as it is. Do I really want to add this on top of it?"

Calvin threw the cover off and sat up to scowl at the tiger. "Maybe what I want does matter. Don't act like you know what to make of this any better than I do!" he growled. He shot to his feet and hurried down the hall to Jason's room before Hobbes could make any further counter arguments.

"Yeah, come in," Jason's voice said through the door in response to the two soft knocks.

Calvin opened the door and immediately forgot the reason for his visit. His eyes took in the MC Escher posters, the cork board covered in pages of intimidating equations, and all the amazing pictures of different corners of the galaxy. Various Star Wars and Star Trek figurines lined the bookshelves where words like "Unix" and "Space" leapt off the nearby spines.

His gaze finally fell on Jason, who was lying in his bed propped up on one elbow with his glasses back on. Jason audibly swallowed and said, "So, what's up?"

Calvin lowered his eyes to the floor, remembering why he was there. He hesitantly stepped forward and knelt by the bed. "So … You're gay?"

Jason squirmed, looking like he was preparing for the worst. "As far as I know. I'm usually too engrossed in my own little world to really notice other people that way, but so far I've only been attracted to guys."

"And your family. Do they know?"

"Yeah. I mean, I haven't directly talked about it with my dad, but since my mom knows I assume he does."

"And they're okay with it."

"Paige and Peter weren't surprised at all," Jason said with a nervous laugh. "So yeah, I guess they're okay with it. I know my mom is. I think she just worries about me more, is all."

Calvin nodded, then prepared himself for the real question he needed to ask. "And how did you … know?"

Jason smiled sadly at him and shook his head. "I'm no guru, Calvin. There isn't a checklist or anything – trust me, I wish there were. I just knew that whoever made those snowmen had to be cool, and when I met you I was sure I'd been proven right. And when you smile my brain shorts out, and when you walk into my room like that I have to remind myself to breathe."

Calvin looked down to assess himself and was suddenly self conscious of his attire.

"Look, if you're not sure then maybe you're straight. And that's okay," Jason assured him with unmasked disappointment.

He raised his head and met Jason's gaze. "I don't know. I know I think you're really cool, too. And I … liked the kiss."

A soft laugh escaped Jason's lips. "If you keep talking like that, I'll do it again," he warned.

Calvin leaned his elbows on the edge of the bed and whispered more confidently, "I liked the kiss."

The other boy stared at him with wide, disbelieving eyes. The next thing he knew, Jason's hand was fisted in his t-shirt, pulling him in for a much less tentative kiss. Unlike the previous instances where Calvin sat frozen in shock, this time he did his best to keep up and return the kiss.

His hand reached up and encircled Jason's wrist. Jason's fingers relaxed, releasing the bunched up fabric, and laid against Calvin's hammering chest. Their lips parted between kisses, allowing their warm breaths to mix together.

When Jason's tongue swept past his own, Calvin flinched in surprise.

The invading appendage retreated and Jason hastily whispered, "Sorry."

Calvin shook his head and dipped his tongue into Jason's mouth, hoping he was doing it right. The moan that escaped Jason's lips was all the reassurance he needed.

A few minutes later, Calvin suddenly pulled away, releasing Jason's wrist like it burned.

"What?" Jason asked.

"Nothing. It's just … late and if we keep this up it'll get later."

Jason nodded dejectedly. "Yeah. You're right."

"G'night … again," Calvin said. He pivoted on his knees before he stood up and walked away from Jason.

"Calvin?"

He stopped in the doorway without turning around.

"Are we okay?"

Calvin looked over his shoulder and smiled. "Yeah, we're okay."

After he closed the door, Calvin scuttled down the hall, thanking god Jason didn't have housemates. He dove onto the couch quickly to avoid having Hobbes see his embarrassing condition. Calvin arranged the blanket around him once more and allowed a few minutes of silence to pass before he whispered, "Well, I don't have to guess anymore."

* * *

**AN**: So yeah, there you have it :) I don't have plans for more chapters, so I won't make any promises I can't keep, but I'm not opposed to the idea either.


	2. Hoping

**AN**: Hello! I decided to write some more. If you're happy to hear this, you have Rmmlc to thank. I hadn't originally intended to write more, mostly because I didn't think there was much of an audience to speak of. But once I heard there was interest, my brain started churning again. And here we are. I hope you like it! Let me know if I should keep going.

* * *

_Dun dun dunnn dun dun-dunnn dun dun-dunnn…_

Jason sat up right away and silenced his Imperial March alarm. He smeared a hand all over his face to rub the last traces of sleep off of himself. Once his glasses were settled on his nose, Jason stood up and stretched with a groan.

He quickly changed his clothes and popped out of his room. In the bathroom, Jason relieved himself and then proceeded to brush his teeth. As the bristles vibrated over his teeth, he mentally went through his plan for the day.

Suddenly, Jason found himself staring at his reflection, bug eyed. It took him a moment to realize that in his shock, his hand had dropped and his toothbrush was currently splattering little green flecks all over the place. He came to his senses and in a mad rush, Jason shut off the device, rinsed his mouth, and ran out to the living room.

He sighed with relief when he found Calvin hadn't snuck out without saying goodbye. Instead, the artist was still passed out on the couch, the bunched up covers indicating the flailing of a fitful sleeper. One leg was exposed, and Jason's gaze trailed from the slender foot, along the lean limb, and up to the rounded swell of Calvin's ass.

As if it knew it was being stared at, the gluteus maximus muscle tightened under the boxers, causing Jason to jump. Calvin was stirring. Before he could be caught staring like a creep, Jason bolted into the kitchen and started preparing breakfast. Nothing fancy. He just pulled out all the cereal boxes so Calvin could make his selection.

He peeked his head into the doorway and saw his guest hadn't actually woken up yet. Jason let his activities in the kitchen – opening and closing drawers, putting away dishes – get louder and louder. Still nothing.

Jason walked over to the couch. "Calvin? … Calvin!" Not even a grunt. "CALVIN!"

This time the coma patient grumbled and wrapped his arms around his head to block out the disruption.

Jason noticed that the hem of Calvin's t-shirt had exposed a small patch of pale skin. A wicked smile spread across the programmer's face.

In one swift movement, Jason's hands were poised by his ears, fingers tense like claws. And just as swiftly, they attacked the exposed flesh mercilessly.

"AUGHHHHHHHH!" Calvin shouted as he thrashed around and eventually threw himself of the couch, onto the floor. He looked up at the assailant standing over him and the anger dissipated from his features, replaced with awed realization.

"Sorry. You weren't waking up and you said you had class."

"Yeah, I'm not much of a morning person," Calvin mumbled.

"No kidding." Jason reached a hand out and helped Calvin to his feet. For a moment, Calvin was unbearably close. Jason had to remind himself not to ruin things by coming on too strong and scaring Calvin off. The tickling may have already been too much. He took a step back. "You want some food?"

"Um, yeah. Just gimme a sec." Calvin gathered up his clothes. "Uh, where's your bathroom?"

"It's the door next to my room."

A little while later, the two were digging into their bowls of Chocolate Frosted Sugar Bombs. "I can't believe you have these," Calvin said gleefully.

"Best cereal ever." Jason watched as Calvin refilled his bowl. "So … would you want to hang out tonight?" he asked, hoping like hell the answer would be yes.

Calvin's face fell, so Jason nervously looked away. "I don't know. I mean, I kind of put off some work all weekend and it's my worst subject so it'll probably take me forever."

It sounded genuine, not like a blow-off. "What subject?"

"Math. Calc I to be exact. God, I hate math."

His jaw fell open. He felt winded like someone had just punched him in the chest. "How can you hate math?"

"Well, it hated me first, so it's only fair," Calvin grumbled.

Jason shook his head. This wouldn't do. "How about I help you? I'm a great tutor."

Now it was Calvin's turn to shake his head, a dark cloud invading his mood. "No," he said firmly as he slid the chair back and rose to his feet. "Listen, I should go."

"Wait, I can help. I _want_ to help."

Calvin hurriedly threw his hoodie on and grabbed his jacket. He gently put Hobbes back in his bag and then shoved his arms through the straps. "No, thanks."

"Why not?" Jason chased after Calvin as he headed for the door.

"Just forget it."

Calvin got the door open a crack, but Jason stuck his foot out and forced it closed. "Why not?" he repeated.

The scowl lasted a few more seconds. Then eyes dropped to the floor. "You'll think I'm stupid," Calvin mumbled.

"I'll never think you're stupid."

Calvin looked up at him. By now, Jason had learned to hold the gaze until Calvin trusted that he was telling the truth. Eyes rolled like they couldn't believe what the mouth was about to say. "Fine."

"Good. Do you want to meet at the library, or here?" he asked hopefully.

"Um … yeah, here works."

"Okay. My last lab ends at 6:30, so feel free to come by any time after that."

Calvin nodded. "All right."

There was a pause as the two stared at each other. Jason desperately wanted to kiss Calvin goodbye but thought he should let Calvin, who slowed things down last night, set the pace.

"So, see ya," Calvin blurted and whisked himself out the door.

"Yeah, see ya," Jason called after him. He closed the door and flopped against the neighboring wall, disappointed but still cautiously optimistic about the coming evening.

* * *

At 6:45, there was a knock at his door. "Come in!" Jason shouted.

Calvin entered the apartment and closed the door behind him. "Hey."

"Hey. I cleared off the table there, so feel free to set yourself up."

"Thanks."

"Sure. And how does Chinese sound?"

"Great. I'll have General Tao's."

Jason went to the kitchen to grab the phone and call in the order. When he returned to the living room, he found the table still empty and Calvin perusing his video collection.

"What are you doing?"

"Looking for something to watch while we wait for the food."

"Uh-uh. You're gonna start your calc while we wait."

"What's the point? It'll be here in 10 minutes and we'll end up watching while we eat anyway."

"Wrong again. You're working through dinner."

"But I'll work faster if I'm not also trying to eat," Calvin practically whined.

"Or you'll get sucked into the movie and kill an hour of study time." He received a frown in response. "I said I was a _great_ tutor, not a fun one."

Calvin petulantly sat at the table and unpacked his bag. "So, I just got the hang of derivatives, and now we're starting integrals."

"Okay."

"And I'm completely lost. I look at this and just see numbers and symbols. Nothing makes sense. Plus the professor keeps throwing in fractions and I hate fractions."

"Okay. This is a pretty normal reaction to integrals. Did your professor talk about the relationship between derivatives and integrals?"

"Well, he said something about integrals of derivatives and derivatives of integrals, but my brain just about exploded."

"Hmm, I think I know what he was getting at, but he probably wasn't being very clear."

"No kidding."

"Let's just talk about derivatives for a second. What's the derivative of this?" Jason wrote down 12x^3 on a piece of scrap paper.

Calvin cautiously wrote down 36x^2.

"Right. Now, how did you get that?"

"Well, I multiplied 12 by 3, and then I subtracted 1 from 3."

"Good. What about more generically, like if you didn't know the numbers were 12 and 3."

"Um, I multiplied the coefficient by the exponent, and then I subtracted 1 from the exponent."

"Perfect." Jason caught Calvin smile to himself. "Now, doing an integral is very similar, but the opposite. So what was the last step you said?"

"I subtracted 1 from the exponent."

"And what's the opposite of that?"

"Add 1 to the exponent."

"Right. And then what about the step before that?"

"Multiply the coefficient by the exponent. So the opposite is dividing the coefficient by the exponent."

"Exactly. So let's look back at this." Jason pointed to where Calvin had written 36x^2. "What's the integral of this?"

"Well, I add 1 to 2, and then I divide 36 by 3, so…." Calvin wrote 12x^3.

"Plus an unknown constant, but yes, that's spot on."

"Right, I always forget the constant."

"But this is what your professor was trying to explain. You took the derivative and then found the integral and ended up with the same function, except for the constant."

"Oh. But then that one was easy. I already knew the answer."

"Okay. So what's the integral of 12 x cubed?"

Calvin frowned and concentrated hard. "So I add 1 to 3 and then divide 12 by 3, so…." This time Calvin wrote 4x^4.

"You're close."

"Plus a constant!" Calvin tacked on.

"True, but the main part isn't quite right yet."

The doorbell rang and the two dug into their pockets for money. When Jason came back with the food, Calvin was still looking over his work, shaking his head. "I don't see where I went wrong."

"You divided 12 by the old exponent: 3. You need to divide it by the new exponent: 4."

"Oh. So it should have been…." Calvin scratched out his previous answer and wrote 3x^4. After a pause, he quickly added + C to the end.

"Yes!" Jason cheered. "Now, if I weren't here, there's a way you could check your answer."

"How?"

"You first answered 4 x to the fourth, plus C. What's the derivative of that?"

"16 x cubed."

"Right, but that should match what we started with, 12 x cubed. Because if you do an integral and then take the derivative, you should get the same function."

"Oh. And yeah, the derivative of 3 x to the fourth plus C is 12 x cubed."

"See? I told you that you weren't stupid. You just had really bad teachers so far."

Calvin's face split into an unchecked smile and as usual, Jason's brain went blank. He had no control over how goofy the look on his own grinning face was.

The other boy suddenly looked away and returned to his problem set. Jason sighed, reading between the lines. He decided to put the final nail in the coffin rather than continue to give himself false hope.

"Calvin, look. I just want you to know it's okay if you changed your mind. About liking the kisses and everything."

"Me? I didn't change my mind. I thought you changed your mind."

"What?" Jason laughed at the ridiculousness of the thought. "No, how could you think that?"

"I don't know. I mean no guy has ever tickled me before, so I thought that was … something. And right after I thought something might happen, but instead you stepped away. And then again when I was leaving. You kissed me three times yesterday, and this morning, nothing."

Jason shook his head. "I was worried about coming on too strong so I thought I should let you make the next move, especially since you put on the brakes last night."

"Oh. I didn't think about that … I'm new to this, okay!" Calvin exclaimed defensively.

"Hey, I'm no expert either. Clearly." That seemed to settle Calvin down a bit. "Look, I'll just put it out there, okay? I have a crush on you so anytime you want to make a move is fine by me."

"Okay."

There was a pause, and then Calvin leaned in.

Going against his every desire, Jason tipped away. "Except for right now."

"What?"

Jason smiled slyly. "Not until you finish this problem set. I'm not letting you use me as a distraction."

"You're serious."

"Hey, the sooner you finish, the sooner–"

Calvin huffed and then went back to work, barely looking up from the paper. Jason relaxed in his chair with a gloating grin, sure he had figured out how to best motivate his tutee in the future.

There were a few pauses for questions, and Jason stepped in a couple times before Calvin went too far down the wrong path, but overall Calvin was getting the hang of it. When he was done, he came into the kitchen where Jason was refilling his glass and handed over his work.

Jason gave it one last perusal as he put the two-liter bottle back in the fridge. "This looks great."

Calvin beamed proudly. "Thanks. So … this means I'm finished right?" he asked with a meaningful look in his eye.

Jason struggled to breathe as Calvin stepped closer. "Yes. You're done."

Calvin leaned in and pressed their lips together. The kisses were still hesitant, exploratory, experimental. And Jason reveled in being Calvin's subject.

"I liked it when you tickled me," Calvin confessed.

"I liked it, too. The tickling was just an excuse to touch you."

"You don't need an excuse," Calvin whispered.

"Careful. Remember what happens if you keep talking like that."

"You don't need an excuse."

Jason reached his fingers under the hem of the t-shirts until he found warm skin. He enjoyed drawing invisible patterns that made Calvin squirm and writhe under his hands.

Eventually, the artist sighed. "I _should_ head over to the studio, though. I still have a lot of work to do on my painting."

"Can I come?"

"Didn't I keep you from enough of your own work tonight?"

"I can bring it with me," Jason explained.

Calvin smiled, apparently flattered by the attention. "That would be great."


	3. Knowing

The sound of his gloves rasping across the packed snow was the only sound Calvin really heard, despite the general hubbub of students moving across campus to their next class.

Most people would take a huge wad and try to smoosh it down to make it more solid. But the real trick was to smear on just a little at a time, rubbing it in to smoothly blend it into the existing structure. That's how Calvin managed to get the detail he needed.

He'd needed to put in a lot of hours since the bastards demolished his earlier work, but Calvin was feeling close to finished. He just needed the weather, and the bastards, to hold off until the project review board could come and inspect it.

One of the more interesting things Calvin learned in this exercise wasn't about snow or art. It was about the paradox of time. When he had been on his own before, he'd had no plans to speak of. He used to tell himself this was a good thing. Without having a definite end point looming ahead of him, he could keep going all night if he wanted to.

Now that he often had plans to meet up with Jason for dinner or studying, he technically had less time to work on his sculptures, and yet he was getting more done than ever before. Perhaps simply having the reward of hanging out with Jason motivated Calvin to work faster. Or maybe it was nothing more than having something good in his life that put some extra pep in his work.

Calvin stepped back and took in the new frozen tableau. Whatever it was, there was something different in this version, and he liked it.

* * *

"Rahhhhh!" A foot stomped on an empty cardboard box.

"Kreee!" Jason perched on the arm of the couch like Daniel San to act like he was flying over Calvin. He dipped one bare foot down and snagged a throw pillow to bomb the dinosaur below.

Calvin wind-milled his arms as he slowly "fell" backwards, pretending to be hit with a boulder. He thrashed around, knocking "buildings" aside as he "struggled" to right himself.

The pterodactyl dove and pounced on the vulnerable lizard. Calvin kicked and squirmed as his assailant clawed at his t-shirt. Then the beast of flight went for the jugular, reaching his "beak" down to the dinosaur's neck and (gently) biting.

Instead of fighting harder against this "deadly" attack, the lizard gasped and clung to the pterodactyl possessively. He felt Jason bite a little harder, dragging his teeth along the stretched skin. When he sucked on the "wounded" flesh, Calvin whimpered.

Jason sat up with a triumphant smile and announced, "I think I won that round."

Calvin scowled playfully. "You cheated."

"I didn't hear you complaining."

Calvin huffed, which made Jason chuckle and drop a quick kiss on his lips. He settled onto the ground next to Calvin, lying on his side with his head propped up on his elbow. Calvin closed his eyes in bliss when he felt Jason trace a finger over the slightly raw skin on his neck. Eventually, he let his eyes drift open again and found the other boy staring at him intently.

"Hey, Calvin?"

"Yeah?"

"Are we … a couple?"

"What?" Calvin goggled at him, eyebrows raised in bewilderment.

"I mean, when I call home and talk about you, what should I call you? Are you my friend, a guy I'm seeing, or… something else?"

Calvin wriggled away from Jason and rose to his feet. "I don't know. How should I know?"

Jason stood up. "There isn't a right or wrong answer here. I just wanted to know what you thought."

"I haven't thought anything." Jason looked slightly hurt, so Calvin scowled and grabbed his jacket. "I'll see you later," he mumbled as he left Jason's apartment.

He stormed across campus and rushed home. Fortunately, the Super Jerk was nowhere to be seen. He locked himself in his room and tried in vain to distract himself with work.

Calvin rolled his eyes when his oldest friend interrupted him. "That's because I _am_ angry, genius."

He turned away from his desk and faced Hobbes. "What do you mean, 'strange?' I'm usually angry. Don't I have plenty to be angry about? Assholes beating me up, teachers giving ridiculous assignments, students disrespecting me in class…."

Calvin shook his head, choosing to remain in denial. "No, I bet I've been angry at some point this week."

_Happy?_ He wondered after Hobbes' assessment. _Have I really been happy lately?_ Calvin looked out the window, across campus, to a particular apartment building.

"I mean. I guess I like finally having a friend … other than you," he hastily added. "Someone who doesn't think I'm weird and actually likes me." Calvin glanced over at the tiger cautiously. "He's been helping me with my calculus, and it's not just that he doesn't make me feel stupid; he makes me feel smart."

Calvin smiled a little to himself. "He _is_ great," he agreed.

His face fell and he dropped his head into his hands. "Because, he started asking questions and I didn't know what to do. I don't know what we are. Gay or straight, I don't think I know how to be a boyfriend. There'll be all these expectations and I won't live up to them and everything will go to shit. Why can't we just keep on like this? Why do we have to label anything?"

Calvin sat up and considered Hobbes' comment. "So it's not about expectations? He just wanted to know how I felt about him? He could've asked me that way. I could've answered _that_."

He shot to his feet and gave the tiger a defiant glare. "Yes, I'm sure. Watch me!"

A few yards into his journey, Calvin began to doubt himself. Sure, he knew how he felt about Jason, but could he actually explain it? He stared at the few feet of sidewalk in front of his feet, deep in thought, until he reached Jason's building.

Inside, he knocked on the familiar door. It opened and Jason just stood there, looking at him cautiously.

"I'm a jerk," Calvin stated.

"You _were_ a jerk," Jason corrected. He stepped aside and Calvin followed him inside.

"Here's the thing. I like spending all my free time with you. When I'm daydreaming in class, I don't pretend to be Stupendous Man or Spaceman Spiff anymore. I think about you because being with you feels even better than being either of those superheroes. You make me really happy, and I really like thinking I make you happy, too. So, if that makes me your boyfriend, then I guess I'm your boyfriend."

Jason pulled him close. "Good to know."


End file.
